Bladder cancer symptoms, signs, causes, treatments: What to know
Veteran “Young and the Restless” actor Eric Braeden recently disclosed he has bladder cancer and detailed his diagnosis and immunotherapy treatment.
“I hate to be this personal, but I think this may be good for some older guys who may or may not listen to this,” Braeden, 82, said in a Facebook Live video describing various health issues that ultimately led to the cancer discovery.
But what exactly is bladder cancer? What are treatments like? Is this something preventable?
The important thing to remember: “There’s hope,” says Dr. Daniel Petrylak, chief of genitourinary oncology at Yale Cancer Center and Smilow Cancer Hospital.
What are the symptoms of bladder cancer? Warning signs?
Bladder cancer may result in nonspecific symptoms, according to Petrylak, that include:
- Blood in the urine
- Difficulty urinating
- Burning on urination
If the cancer has spread elsewhere in the body, the National Cancer Institute says symptoms could surface like:
- abdominal pain
- lower back pain on one side
- bone pain/tenderness
- unintended weight loss/no appetite
- feet swelling
- unable to pee
- feeling worn out
How is bladder cancer diagnosed?
Doctors usually make the diagnosis by looking at the urine under the microscope, or a urologist will go inside the bladder to take a look and biopsy lesions. It may be discovered at any stage, but most bladder cancers are discovered early, according to Petrylak.
If you have bleeding or any sort of unusual urinary tract infections or symptoms, talk to your doctor. It may not necessarily be cancer – any irritation or disruption in the bladder could cause bleeding.
Still, “better to be safe than sorry,” Petrylak says.
What causes bladder cancer?
Risk factors include smoking, being exposed to certain chemicals in drinking water and genetics.
“A lot of my patients are shocked when we tell them that the smoking was the cause for their bladder cancer,” Petrylak says. “Because they say, ‘well, I thought smoking caused lung cancer.’ And the answer is no. It causes other cancers and in fact, the carcinogens from smoke are filtered into the urine and then they will sit there and expose themselves to the bladder.”
Bladder cancer is more common in men – the fourth-most common cancer – than in women with no definitive answer why. Men have a 1 in 28 chance of developing bladder cancer while for women it’s 1 in 91, according to the American Cancer Society.
Approximately 9 in 10 people who have bladder cancer are over 55 years old; 73 years old is the average age of diagnosis.
What are the different types of bladder cancer?
There are two kinds:
- Non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This is the most common type and means that cancer hasn’t reached the bladder’s muscle wall.
- Muscle-invasive bladder cancer. This type spreads through the bladder’s lining and into the bladder’s muscle wall, possibly beyond.
What is the bladder cancer survival rate?
Chances of survival depend on individual patients, of course, but also on whether cancer has spread. Overall across all stages, people have a 77% chance of surviving for five years after diagnosis, but the odds differ greatly if it’s spread far (8%).
There will be approximately 82,290 new cases of bladder cancer in the U.S. in 2023, according to the American Cancer Society. About 62,420 of these cases will be men, and 19,870 women.
About 16,710 people will die from bladder cancer this year – 12,160 men and 4,550 women.
Visit the Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network for support.
Is bladder cancer curable?
Yes. Muscle-invasive bladder cancer can be cured with surgery or chemotherapy. Non-muscle-invasive can be treated with immune therapy within the bladder itself among other options.
Some doctors may ultimately remove people’s bladders, but people can still lead relatively normal lives. There are continent diversions, for example, which can help bladder cancer survivors urinate normally even without a bag or other appliances.
The best advice now? “Quit smoking,” Petrylak says. “There’s no reason to smoke at this point. We’ve got so much evidence that cardiovascular disease, cancer, all these are tobacco-related, and clearly we want to prevent them from happening.”
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